Collegiate Baseball Div. I Poll 3-5-12

TUCSON, Ariz. — The University of Florida (10-1) has been ranked No. 1 in the latest NCAA Division I baseball poll by Collegiate Baseball newspaper.

The Gators, who have been ranked No. 1 four consecutive polls, have won eight in a row. Over the past weekend, Florida swept a 3-game series over previously unbeaten Miami, Fla.

The Gators have now beaten the Hurricanes 11 consecutive games dating back to the 2010 season and swept Miami in a 3-game series in Coral Gables for the first time since 2006 and just the second time in school history.

Poll Notes: Other teams have been red-hot. Kentucky (11-0) and Gonzaga (10-0) enter the rankings after being unbeaten so far. Oregon has won 10 straight while Maryland has captured eight in a row with a microscopic team ERA of 0.95. Purdue (8-1) is off to its best start since the 1959 season. Cal. St. Fullerton has won seven straight while UCLA has captured six in a row along with Texas A&M.

Four teams fell out of the top 30 in Southern California (1-3 last week), Cal. Poly (2-2), Baylor (3-2) and College of Charleston (2-2). New teams in the poll this week are Kentucky, Gonzaga, Purdue (8-1) and Central Florida (10-2).

The Collegiate Baseball newspaper poll is the oldest college baseball poll. Its birth took place during the 1957 college baseball season.

LHP Brian Holmes, Wake Forest: Holmes fired a 9-inning no-hitter during a 5-1 win over Marshall. He struck out 10 and walked one. At one point, he retired 15 of 16 batters. The only trouble he had was in the sixth. He hit one batter, walked another and then hit a batter to load the bases with one out. Nathan Gomez followed with a sacrifice fly that allowed Marshall’s only run to score. The next batter flew out to end the inning. Holmes then retired the final nine batters of the game.

RHP Marcus Stroman, Duke: Stroman struck out a career-high 17 batters in seven shutout innings as the Blue Devils beat George Washington, 13-2. Stroman’s 17 strikeouts were two shy of the Atlantic Coast Conference single-game record of 19.

1B Mason Katz, Louisiana St.: Katz was 13-for-19 in five games last week with 5 doubles, 3 homers, 8 RBI and 12 runs scored. He reached base safely in 17 consecutive plate appearances at one point and fell just one shy of the NCAA record of 18 set by Shaun Larkin of Cal. St. Northridge in 2002.

2B Tyler Vaughn, Troy: With only eight career games and four career at-bats prior to this week, Vaughn went 8-for-10 at the plate with 3 doubles, 5 runs scored and 5 RBIs. At one point, he reached base in 10 consecutive plate appearances. Defensively, he was perfect on 15 defensive opportunities and turned a pair of double plays.